


check your landing gear

by retweet_this



Category: Crooked Media RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-12 09:53:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retweet_this/pseuds/retweet_this
Summary: “You know, we could be a surprisingly good team, improving on each other’s faults and saving the day.” He pauses for a moment. “Or, you know. We blow up an entire planet.”





	check your landing gear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gdgdbaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gdgdbaby/gifts).



As soon as he lands, Favs can tell something’s different. Nothing’s happened – he hasn’t even gotten out of the cockpit yet – but something in the air feels just a little off.

“It’s probably nothing,” he mumbles to himself. He shakes his head and pulls off his helmet as the hood slowly lifts, then leans over as far as he can to wipe the dirt off the top of L3O’s console. “Sorry about flying into that dust storm, buddy. You did a great job getting us through it, I’m so proud.”

L3O responds with a series of beeps but before Favs can translate, there’s a loud and shocked gasp from somewhere below.

“What the _kriff_ did you do to your ship?” It’s only when Favs climbs out of the ship and stands beside it that he sees him – a short engineer giving him a wild look as he turns from the ship to its pilot.

“Uh,” Favs says, smartly. “There was a sandstorm.” The guy just looks at him, brow raised, and Favs can feel the blood rushing to his face. He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. “Um, where’s Litt?”

“Away.” The guy steps over to the ship and presses a gloved hand to the exterior. “Did you fly right into the sandstorm or something?”

“It was an evasive maneuver.” Favs crosses his arms, frowning. “Is he okay?”

“Who?”

“Litt.”

“Oh, yeah, something about an off-planet mission.” He taps the metal a few times and looks back at Favs. “Usually, evasive maneuvers are to _avoid_ sandstorms.”

“There were some extenuating circumstances,” Favs replies. “You had to have been there.”

The man doesn’t reply at first, instead bending down and examining the recently-freed L3O and listening to his beeps. He looks up at Favs and smirks. “Your droid says you could’ve easily avoided the sandstorm, but you’re a reckless and flighty pilot.”

Favs opens his mouth to – defend himself? argue? something along those lines – when, from across the hangar, he hears Pfeiffer call out for him. “Favreau! Mission report, now!”

“Coming!” Favs shouts back. He looks back down. “Um…”

“Don’t worry,” the guy hums, patting L3O’s head, “your guy’s safe with me. Maybe he can tell me more about you.”

The only reason Favs leaves after that remark is because he has to, not because he can’t think of a good enough comeback. He’s still feeling a little flustered by the time he reaches Pfeiffer, licking his lips and sparing a glance back to his new engineer. “Who’s he?”

“Oh, I see you’ve met Lovett already,” Pfeiffer hums. “Yeah, he was transferred here from Dantooine. He’s got a reputation for being incredibly bright and skilled at hacking, but also…” he pauses, “a flair for the dramatic.”

Favs nods. “Well I guess it’s too bad that no one else around here is dramatic at all, huh?” His serious façade cracks when Pfeiffer rolls his eyes, stifling a laugh.

“Just give me your report, Favreau.”

-

-

-

“You know you don’t have to make friends with _every_ single person on this base, right?” Vietor asks, matching his pace as they walk down to the engineers’ quarters.

“I don’t make friends with _everyone_ on the base,” Favs huffs in faux indignation. “He’s just going to be my engineer, so at the very least, I should try and be cordial with him.”

“Uh huh,” Vietor deadpans. “You know, if you replace ‘engineer’ with literally any other occupation on this base, you’d get your justification for making friends with, uh, pretty much everyone here.”

Favs rolls his eyes. “Don’t you have someone else to bother? Koch? Pfeiffer? Anyone?”

“You’re lucky Hanna’s back from Corellia or I would’ve gone in there with you to watch your face when he inevitably mentions –”

“Okay!” Favs says, unnecessarily loud. “We’re here! You can go now!”

Vietor laughs and lightly punches Favs’ arm before turning around and walking away. Favs takes a deep breath before stepping forward and entering the room.

“Hello?”

In a corner, hunched over a table with an array of scrap parts surrounding him, Lovett looks up. “Oh, hey. Favreau, right?”

“Guilty as charged,” Favs chuckles. Oh, gosh, why did he just say that? He tries to shake it off. “Um, hey, I just wanted to –”

“Aren’t you the guy they caught doing something lewd to that hologram of Mon Mothma?”

And there it is. This time, Favs is absolutely certain all the blood is rushing to his face. “Okay, I know it looks bad, but the context of that –”

“Oh?” Lovett crosses his arms. “There needs to be _context_ when explaining why you were caught groping one of the founders of the Rebellion?”

Favs wonders if it’s at all possible for someone to have their face permanently flushed. He takes a breath. “You’re – you’re right. No context can excuse what I did. And I’ve done my best to put it behind me but it’s still – very shameful and embarrassing. And… um… I guess I should go now.”

It’s lucky he’s already looking down as he turns around or he would’ve almost kicked the tiny astromech droid by his feet. “Whoops! Sorry!”

The droid chirps at him and Favs laughs, “No, you’re fine.” He bends down and pats her head. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Favreau.”

“You can speak binary?” Lovett asks somewhere behind him.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I learned it at the Academy, before I obviously defected and came here.”

“Huh. I never got the hang of it.”

Favs turns around and raises a brow. “Really? But, earlier with L3O –”

“Lucky guess,” Lovett hums. “Based on the state of your ship.”

Oh, great, the flush is back. Favs ducks his head a little and looks back down. “Yeah, um… sometimes I leave my head up my cockpit for too long.”

Lovett lets out a small laugh that slowly transforms into an odd sort of cough, as he steps around the table. “It looks like P4ND0 likes you. Usually she’s very picky about who she wants to spend her time with. Like her owner.”

“I kind of figured.”

“Yeah. I trust her judgement more than anyone’s, actually.” Lovett crouches down in front of him and extends his hand. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Lovett.”

Favs grins as he takes it. “My friends call me Favs.”

Lovett nods. “So I’m guessing pretty much _everyone_ calls you Favs?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Thought so.”

-

-

-

“Hey, how is my favorite doing?” Pfeiffer says, sliding into the seat beside Vietor and setting his lunch tray on the table.

“Fine, thanks for asking,” Favs hums.

“I was actually talking to Koch.”

Koch laughs at the other side of Vietor and leans over to give Pfeiffer a wave. “I’m fine too.”

They start talking, but most of the words wash over Favs as he continues to scan the crowd, looking just below head level to see if maybe he can spot –

“Looking for your boyfriend?” Vietor asks.

Favs nearly spits out his water. “I – He’s – we’re not –”

“Relax, I’m just teasing,” he laughs, shaking his head. He picks his fork up and twirls it between his fingers. “Although, based on your reaction…”

“Based on whose reaction?” Lovett asks. He towers over Favs for just a moment before sitting down next to him. “What are we talking about?”

“I don’t know what these two are talking about,” Vietor gestures to Pfeiffer and Hanna, “but I was just about to make a joke about how maybe you’d finally broken up with our good man Favs here.”

Lovett laughs. “I can’t break up with him, who else will laugh at all of my jokes and then refuse to take my suggestions on how to fly better?”

“I do take your suggestions,” Favs huffs.

“Oh, really? Then why, on your last mission, did you scrape the underside of your X-Wing on a mountaintop?”

“It was in the way?”

Lovett grimaces as he turns back to Tommy. “See? We’re perfect for each other.”

“Clearly,” Tommy hums. “Man, what I wouldn’t give to see you two on a covert mission together. Favs here can’t act to save his life, and you can’t keep still for a minute, you’d be found out in seconds.”

“I have more faith in us than that,” Favs replies. “You know, we could be a surprisingly good team, improving on each other’s faults and saving the day.” He pauses for a moment. “Or, you know. We blow up an entire planet.”

“That’s a lot of faith you have,” Lovett deadpans. He grabs a piece of fruit off of his tray with a cheeky wink and pops it in his mouth, and Favs tries not to think of the sudden increase in his heartrate.

-

-

-

There’s a heavy feeling in Favs’ chest as he heads down the hallway alone. No one in the hallways to bump into, not even L3O by his feet so he can at least have someone to talk to. Well, at.

It’s probably nothing – well, no, it’s probably not nothing, he’s being summoned to see the freaking senator in the middle of the night, that’s not exactly nothing. But it’s probably not because he’s done anything wrong. That he knows of. Shit, what if he’s done something wrong? What if there was a tracker on his ship that’s given their location to the Empire? What if some Imperial soldier managed to hack into L3O and his droid’s been beaming back information? What if –

The door opens before he can announce himself and then there’s Pfeiffer standing behind the desk, polite grimace on his face, and in front of him is –

“General Axelrod?” Favs blinks.

“Evening, Favreau,” Axelrod hums. “The senator was called away on some late business, but he sends his regards.” He gestures to the seat before him and looks down at his datapad as Favs sits down. “You’re a good pilot, aren’t you?”

Favs nods, voice stuck somewhere on the way to his mouth, unsure whether he’s supposed to respond or not. He coughs a little when he tries to speak and ends up staying silent.

“Not particularly good at stealth, admittedly,” Axelrod continues, “but you’re damn good at evasive maneuvers and getting an enemy off your tail.”

“Thank you, sir,” Favs manages to sputter out. He looks up and Pfeiffer catches his eye to give him a thumbs up.

He’s about to give one back when Axelrod sets the pad down, looking Favs right in the eye as he crosses his arms and sighs. “There’s a mission we have for you.” He flicks his wrist and a hologram pops up. “To Naboo.”

“Naboo?” Favs raises his brows.

Pfeiffer steps forward from the shadows. “For a while now, we’ve been in contact with the Queen. He’s been feeding us information about troop and supply movements, where certain generals or admirals are setting up their bases –”

“How close they’ve gotten to capturing us,” Axelrod adds.

“Exactly,” Pfeiffer says. “But of course, suspicions have been… aroused. You know what they say, you can’t hide much from the Emperor or his pet for very long.”

Favs nods slowly. “So, you want me to rescue the Queen from Naboo?”

“Not quite.” Pfeiffer taps on his datapad and the hologram changes, zooming in on a city. “That’s the capital, Theed. Around this time every cycle, there’s a large cultural celebration to commemorate the end of the Trade Federation blockade on the planet, which started the chain of events leading to the rise of the Galactic Empire. It’s like Empire Day Eve, with high-ranking Naboo from across the galaxy returning home to celebrate.”

“You mean –” Favs’ eyes widen and Pfeiffer quickly responds, “No, no, not the Emperor. But Grand Admiral Palo Jemabie will be.” He flicks his wrist again and a holographic image of the man’s face appears. “The files on his ship’s computer should give us an edge almost all of the Empire’s upcoming technological advances, their research projects, things that could give us an edge in our fight.”

“So, what exactly do you want me to do?”

“The two of you will head to Naboo immediately, right before the festivities begin,” Axelrod says. He waves his hand and the hologram disappears. “We’ve got a Nabooian cruiser ready just for this occasion. The captain of the Naboo Security Forces should meet you on the ground and help you infiltrate Jemabie’s ship, then, if all goes well, the four of you should be out of there before anyone’s the wiser.”

Favs frowns a little, counting on his fingers. “Me, the captain, the Queen, and – who else?”

Someone clears their throat, and from seemingly nowhere, Lovett takes a seat beside him. He raises a hand. “Hey.”

Favs blinks, then blinks again. “You’re an engineer. How’re you gonna…”

“I’m an engineer,” Lovett repeats. “But before that, I was a handmaiden to the Queen of Naboo.”

-

-

-

They spend all of ten minutes in hyperspace before Favs can’t stand it anymore. He licks his lips and looks over at Lovett. “So, do you wanna… talk about it?”

“Not particularly,” Lovett shrugs. He doesn’t look anywhere in his direction.

“Okay.” Favs looks at his console. “We should be there before dawn. According to intel, Empire officials usually don’t show up until a few hours before and even then, for Nabooian ships, there isn’t much security for ease of passage.” He pauses, waiting for a response, then continues. “The coordinates where we’re supposed to land –”

“You don’t need to talk,” Lovett suddenly snaps.

“Oh. I – Sorry.”

After a few seconds, Lovett lets out a sigh, turning his chair toward him. “It’s not you,” he says. “It’s really not. You’re actually being really good about this, most people wouldn’t – they’d sort of –” he trails off a little, then shakes his head. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s just that, I didn’t think I’d be coming back here. Not like this.”

Favs nods. “Yeah,” he hums. “Yeah, I get that.”

“Do you?” Lovett asks.

“Well… no, not really,” he admits, chuckling a little despite himself. “But I’m, you know. Empathizing.”

“Oh. Well, thanks.”

“For what?”

“Empathizing.” The corners of Lovett’s mouth quirk, just slightly, but Favs can feel his lips moving to match. He looks over at L3O in the corner, calculating their flight path as they take it, and thinks about P4ND0 back on base, probably running around in eager celebration of her owner’s disappearance.

He stares back down at the console and smiles.

-

-

-

The sun’s rays peak just barely through the horizon, across the water, as Favs lands their ship right on the edge of the river.

“Tight squeeze,” Lovett says. “You sure this is the right place? It seems kind of... out in the open.”

“These are the coordinates the Queen gave us,” Favs shrugs. "If he thinks they're fine then they should be fine."

Lovett grumbles, just barely under his breath. "Oh well if the Queen thinks so then of course it should be okay."

Favs frowns over at. "Are you..."

"I'm fine." He clears his throat and shakes his head. "I just hope we don't get shot at. Nabooian ships haven’t been used for fighting in ages. They’re more for style over substance.”

“Smooth ride but no guns,” Favs nods. “Hear that, L3O? No joyrides while we’re out.”

L3O whirrs around his feet and he laughs as he pats his head. “Don’t worry, buddy, we’ll be back before you know it. Just keep the ship safe while we’re gone.”

They head out together, Lovett’s bag slung on his back and Favs’ over his shoulder, and it takes about two steps before someone calls out to them. “Took you long enough.”

Favs’ first instinct is to reach for his blaster, but the man raises his hands in a surrender. “Don’t shoot,” he calls out. “I was told to expect two officers in an old-model cruiser.” He gestures to his uniform. “I’m the captain of the Royal Guard.”

Lovett leans over and nudges Favs’ shoulder. “The guy looks more like a disgruntled librarian,” he whispers.

“That may be,” Favs replies, “but he does match the description from our intel.” He leaves the blaster in its holster and steps forward. “I’m Favreau, he’s Lovett. We’re from the Alliance and we’re here to help.”

“Sounds about right.” The man steps back and pushes a bunch of leaves around off the ground, pulling open what Favs initially assumed was a rock but turns out to be the entrance to…

“We’re going through the _sewage_?” Lovett scoffs. “Are you kriffing kidding me?”

“Oh,” the captain deadpans, “you want to go on the surface? And then run into the early detail of stormtroopers who will ask all of us for our identification and when you two can’t provide any, will immediately imprison us, then torture us until we reveal our plans, and then finally kill us and the Queen, and then use your ship to route right back to your Rebel base?”

“… No.”

He gestures down. “After you, my good man.”

Lovett glares at him but doesn’t say anything as he grabs onto the ladder poking out and descends into the depths below.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” the captain assures Favs when he walks over. “Just don’t step into the water.”

“I’ll try not to.”

It’s a shorter drop than he was expecting, and his eyes take a few moments to adjust to the darkness. The hatch closes behind the captain and he dusts himself off before gesturing for the two of them to follow.

“So,” Favs says, after a few moments of silence, “your file never mentioned your name.”

“Names have power,” he replies. “I don’t like to just give mine up willy-nilly.”

“But you know our names,” Lovett counters.

“Yes, I do.”

Lovett lets out a huff and Favs pats his arm sympathetically. “Well we can’t just call you Captain,” he points out. “Just give us a nickname or something. As a gesture of goodwill.”

The captain lets out a long groan. “Fine, you can call me… Key.”

“Is that a real nickname or one you just made up?”

“What do you think?”

“I think I hate this guy,” Lovett mumbles. Favs bites the inside of his cheek, and they continue the rest of their trip in silence until they come across another ladder leading to an open hatch. Key climbs up first, followed by Lovett, and Favs picks up the rear.

The area they step into is almost as dim as the sewers were, lights dimly flickering around an abandoned courtyard. He pulls himself above ground and looks around. “What is this place?”

“It used to be where the Royal Naboo Security Forces resided and trained,” says a hooded figure, stepping forward toward them and reaching out a hand to help Favs to his feet. “But since the Forces themselves are now defunct, save for the commanding officer, it’s mostly just an abandoned space now.”

The man removes his hood and wow, the holograms did not do the Queen’s face justice. Favs sputters for a moment before collecting himself. “Oh, um, your – Your Highness.”

The Queen laughs. “Oh, no need for that. No matter how this ends, I will no longer be the Queen of Naboo. Call me –”

“Don’t give your real name,” Key quickly interjects.

The Queen turns around and raises a brow. “Why not?”

“I don’t trust these two just yet.”

“They’re literally here to help us,” the Queen says, slowly.

“Exactly,” Lovett interjects from the sidelines. “He’s been calling himself ‘Key’ this whole time!”

“Key?” the Queen laughs again. “Well, if he’s Key, then call me Maz. It’s a nickname.”

“Oh.” Favs looks from Maz to Key and back again. “Oh, are you two –”

“No,” Key snaps, at the same time as Maz says, “We should get started with the debrief. I’m guessing your superiors nor, uh, Key here have given you the full details of the plan yet?”

“Not yet,” Favs says. “We were told we’d be extracting some information off of an admiral’s computer during a festival?”

“Right,” Maz nods. “There’s going to be a gala at sundown, in the palace, and it should last well into the evening. Security on Naboo is traditionally lax, but most officials like to bring a couple dozen of their best officers and stormtroopers on the ground with them. They’ll be scattered around the palace, but Key should be able to get you some uniforms to blend in with the crowd and get to the hangar. Jemabie keeps a copy of all his most important records on his personal cruiser – he’s got this fear that one of his more incompetent officers will accidentally delete everything and he won’t have any backups –”

“Hang on,” Lovett says, raising his hand. “How do know all of this stuff?”

“I’ve been in this business a while.” When Lovett doesn’t respond, Maz elaborates, “I graduated at the top of my class from the Imperial Academy, I’ve been around many generals and admirals, attended many parties on Coruscant, plenty of diplomatic envoys to hub cities in the Inner Rim –”

Lovett cuts him off. “You’re the Queen of Naboo, aren’t you?” He crosses his arms. “Naboo is doing better under Imperial control than it has in centuries. It’s fucking prospering – and you want to _help_ the Alliance that’s going to take all that way.”

Maz blinks at him. “But – it’s _not_ thriving.” He looks between the two of them. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of how great it is to live in the Emperor’s home planet, but that’s only if you were well-off to begin with. It’s not prosperous for the poor, the destitute, the people who slip through the cracks. Countless people have been removed from their ancestral lands for Imperial officials to build their vacation homes. Pollution and disease have infected the waters where the Gungan live and the Empire wants to eradicate them entirely.” He shakes his head. “Naboo is only thriving if you’re not looking.”

There’s a long pause. Favs clears his throat. “So, you were saying about the computer?”

-

-

-

“Sun should be going down soon,” Favs says aloud. He looks over where Lovett’s been lying for the past half hour, staring up at the ceiling.

He doesn’t acknowledge him at first, but when Favs lifts his blaster again, he speaks. “My parents are dead.”

Favs lowers his arms. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lovett shrugs. He still doesn’t look at him. “It was a long time ago, now. My dad died during the Clone Wars and my mother... Well...”

There’s a short pause. Favs opens his mouth, but Lovett continues. “I lied earlier, when I said I was a handmaiden. I guess you could say I was sort of an honorary handmaiden. My mother was an advisor to the Queen at the time, and I essentially had free reign of the castle. I was probably a decade or so younger than the youngest person there, but everyone treated me like I belonged.”

He lets out a long sigh. “I was definitely too young to know what was happening, at the time. It was still early in the Empire’s rule, when they were getting rid of the major dissidents and bribing - or threatening - planets to conform. People don’t really know that Naboo had a lot of initial resistance to the whole Empire thing.”

“Because of Padmé Amidala,” Favs says.

“Because of Queen Amidala,” Lovett responds. “There was this, uh, ‘conspiracy’,” he lifts his hands to form the air quotes, “that she’d died because of the emerging Empire, because there’s no way the Jedi could’ve killed her.” He pauses again. “At least, that’s what my mother thought. That’s what she used to say.”

Favs swallows hard. “What happened?”

“She woke me up in the middle of the night, told me that I’d been admitted into a prestigious academy in the Outer Rim and I needed to leave immediately to enroll. She got a couple of troopers to escort me on a cruiser – the cruiser we came here in – and that was… that was the last time I saw her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Lovett’s sigh is shakier this time. “I found out at the academy – which wasn’t actually very prestigious by the way, but, well, you know – I found out that the Emperor sent Vader to, um… negotiate with the Queen and her advisors. And that a certain number of her advisors were deemed to be enemies of the Empire. And the Queen, in order to ‘maintain the peace,’ she…”

He stops talking abruptly, but Favs can finish the story in his head. He carefully sits down beside him, careful not to make eye contact. “I’m sorry,” he says again.

“It’s not your fault,” Lovett mumbles, shrugging his shoulders just out of the corner of Favs’ eyes. He hesitates a moment before he adds, “Thanks. For listening. You’re a good listener.”

“Well you’re a good talker,” Favs blurts out. His eyes widen. “Oh, uh, I didn’t mean –”

“You’re fine.” One of Lovett’s hands is pressed against his face but his other hand brushes just against Favs’. Just a little, just the pinky, and they both let out a breath at the same time.

-

-

-

Key’s bag comes through the hatch before his head pops through. “I have to get back to the party, so let’s make this quick. You remember how to get the computer out?”

“No, I forgot at some point in the six hours you’ve been gone,” Lovett snarks.

“You’re hilarious,” Key deadpans. He looks to Favs. “Just take a right when you come down and the path should lead you right to a secluded section outside of the palace. Use the grappling hook to propel yourself to the third floor and from there make your way to the hangar.”

“Grappling hook?”

“Got it,” Lovett says. He shrugs at Favs. “It’s a Naboo thing.”

The uniform picked out for him tight around the arms, but Favs doesn’t have much time to complain, as Lovett breaks out into a run down the sewers, barely giving him time to catch up. “Hang on, hang on! My shoe’s not even on my foot properly!”

“Sorry,” Lovett calls out from over his shoulder. “It’s just – this is my first mission, and, you know, I’m kind of excited.”

“You do realize,” Favs says, panting a little once he reaches him, “that if we fail, we’re definitely going to be tortured and probably going to be killed?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lovett waves his hand dismissively. He breaks into another run once the ladder comes into sight, already up and out before Favs can even think.

The night air and wind are more than welcome after grueling hours in that abandoned facility. He wishes he could take a few moments just to take in the sights, but Lovett’s already by the palace walls and he has to go over or he’ll probably be left out of the entire mission.

“Here,” Lovett says, shoving the grappling hook in his hands. At Favs’ expression, he explains, “It’ll be easier for me to hold onto you than for you to hold onto me.”

Favs looks around. “Are you sure he didn’t, like, leave two hooks lying around?”

“No, and that’s honestly poor planning on Key’s part.” Lovett wraps his arm around Favs’ waist and presses his head against his chest. “All right, I’m ready.”

Favs is a pretty good shot, he would say. Very precise, very accurate, can hold his own in a fight. So it’s a little embarrassing when the hook overshoots the ledge and very nearly hits the window, before falling back and securing itself.

“You know you nearly cost us this entire mission, right?” Lovett says, dusting off the front of his coat. “We can’t exactly explain away why, when we’re supposed to be allowed in the palace, we’re coming up with grappling hooks.”

“Maybe we wanted to do something dumb but exciting?” Favs shrugs. He rubs the back of his head, a little sheepish, and tucks the gun in his coat.

Lovett huffs. “Aren’t you supposed to be a good shot? Do you have, uh, performance issues?” He raises his brows suggestively and Favs rolls his eyes.

“Come on, we’re on a time limit, we can argue on our way there.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lovett steps forward to take the lead and Favs keeps in pace just behind him, still wary, still cautious. Most of the party seems to be confined to the other end of the palace, but there’s some chatter and noise echoing across the halls. He’s not exactly new to undercover missions, but it would be a much smoother ride if they could just avoid any trouble –

He doesn’t get to finish his train of thought before Lovett’s grabbing his arm and pulling him into an open room. “What –”

Lovett covers his mouth with his hand. “I saw two Imperials walking toward us and I panicked and pulled you in here but now I realize that probably makes us look extra suspicious.”

Favs curses under his breath. He’s right, two seemingly inconspicuous officers running away at the sight of others probably warrants a bit of a closer look. “It’s okay,” he says aloud, putting a hand on Lovett’s shoulder. He glances at the door then back to him. “I’m sorry.”

“What –” Lovett starts, but the rest of his question is cut off by Favs’ lips against his.

It’s. Okay, admittedly, it’s not a great kiss, it’s rushed and mostly for show and they’re both distracted by the fear of getting caught, but there’s still…

There’s laughter by the door, followed by a low whistle, but Favs doesn’t pull away until he can no longer hear footsteps. It takes a few moments after that for Lovett to open his eyes. Neither of them look at each other at first, until Favs clears his throat.

“We should… you know.”

“Yeah,” Lovett nods. “We should.”

Favs follows him out of the room.

-

-

-

The hangar bay is, thankfully, empty by the time they get there, save the ships docked in every available space.

“All right,” Favs claps his hands together, “now we just have to look for the admiral’s ship.”

“Now I’m not an expert on ships,” Lovett starts, “but I _think_ it’s probably the one that’s got the Imperial insignia right on its doors and is right where Maz said it would be?”

Favs looks over to where Lovett is pointing and throws him a smirk. “Lucky guess.” He walks over to the ship and frowns at the console. “You, uh, sure you got this?”

“Yeah, yeah, let me just…” Lovett’s brow furrows and his fingers move over the screen, a few deliberate flourishes, until the doors open with a low hiss. He leans back with a smile. “Okay! … I do think I should mention I don’t know how to close it.”

“Well, let’s get this done before that becomes a problem.” Favs pulls his blaster out and leans against the wall, taking a moment to look back at Lovett. “You know what to do with the console, right?”

“I just showed you I could handle that door,” Lovett retorts, giving Favs an incredulous look before turning around back to the computers.

There’s nothing for a moment, but the silence is short-lived, when Favs hears Lovett clear his throat. “You know,” he says, tone clearly a forced casual, “you, uh, didn’t have to apologize, back there. When we. You know.”

“Oh.” Favs blinks. “Oh, uh, really?”

“Well, considering the circumstances, I appreciate the heads up, but, you know…” Lovett turns around and leans back against the console with a small shrug. “Considering the circumstances, I would’ve preferred different circumstances for us to… you know.”

Favs nods slowly, trying to push down his growing smile. “That’s – that’s good to know.” He licks his lips a little. “I know now might not be the right time, but after this whole mission or whatever, would you want to –”

“What the _hell_ is going on here?”

The blood freezes in Favs’ veins. Shit, he literally only had one job and he just fucked it up. He and Lovett turn their heads simultaneously, staring down the Imperial officer who’d just walked in as he glares back at them in turn.

“Uh,” Lovett says.

The officer opens his mouth before his eyes catch sight of the active console behind Lovett, eyes widening as he makes the clear and obvious connection.

Favs shoots, but just a second too late. The officer’s body hasn’t even hit the floor when the alarms start blaring.

“Shit,” Favs says aloud. “How much of the data did you manage to get?”

“Not enough,” Lovett admits. He sounds distracted, staring at the Imperial’s body with wide eyes, mouth slightly ajar. He jerks out of it as soon as Favs shoots around the console and rips it out of the wall. “What the _fuck_?”

“The console has all the info, right?” Favs asks. He drops it in Lovett’s arms. “So we take the console and we run.”

“ _What_?”

From outside, through the sound of the alarm, Favs can hear chatter of officers, troopers, whoever else. He grabs Lovett’s hand. “We gotta go.”

It’s sheer luck that none of the officers are looking in the direction of the ship when they run out, although most of them do turn once Favs has knocked down a few of their buddies. He keeps Lovett shielded with his body, pushing his head down as they run into the hallway.

“Keep running!” he shouts.

“Wasn’t planning to stop!” Lovett shouts back, but a few seconds later, he’s grabbing Favs’ arm and skidding to a halt. Favs’ finger is already on the trigger and aiming right at Maz’s head before he realizes who it is.

“Hey.” Key swats his blaster away with a frown. “Watch where you’re pointing that thing.” He looks at Lovett holding the console and blinks. “What the kriff happened?”

“We got caught,” Favs says. “But we got the info, now we just have to get back to the ship.”

Key’s scowl deepens. “That’s too far away to reach on foot, we’ll get caught before we even get underground. Security might be lax but there’s still security.” As if on cue, the tell-tale sound of stormtrooper boots echoes around them. “Any way you can get the ship here?”

“My droid on the ship, he can pilot it here. But I’ll need a ranged communicator to contact him.”

“There should be some in the offices,” Maz says, gesturing to the adjacent hallway. “I can lead.”

Favs nods. “Great. We have a plan.” There’s a crash and he turns around just in time to pull Lovett aside and protect him from the incoming blaster fire. The four of them slip into the hallway and Key adjusts his blaster.

“I’ll hold them off as long as I can,” Key says, looking straight at Favs. “Keep him safe. He likes getting into trouble.”

Beside him, Maz’s eyes widen. “Wait, what the f-”

Key plants a kiss just on the corner of his mouth, then pushes him toward Favs. “Go!”

Favs doesn’t need a second warning. He grabs Maz by the arm and pulls him along, forcing him to keep up with his pace as they head down the hallway. He can still hear blaster fire in the distance when his conscience finally kicks in, stopping him in his tracks.

Lovett walks up beside him. “What’s – what’s wrong?” he asks in between breaths. He adjusts his grip on the console and frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be right back.” Favs pulls his blaster out, looking over at Maz. “Keep going. I’ll be right back.”

The exhaustion drips away from Lovett’s frame, immediately replaced by something else. Something worse. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, are you really –”

It’s Maz’s turn, this time, to grab someone and push them down the hall, as Favs sprints in the opposite direction, right back to where they’d come from. And Key’s right there where they left him – looking worse for wear with his right arm bleeding, but still, blessedly, alive.

He groans when Favs crouches down beside him. “If you’re here being the martyr, and I’m here being the martyr, then who’s keeping those two from becoming martyrs themselves?”

“No one’s becoming a martyr,” Favs assures him. He starts throwing a couple of blasts in the enemy’s direction, but only one stormtrooper goes down.

“Oh, really?” Key hums. “Because from what it looks like, those troopers are gonna overwhelm us in a hot second, and then we’re thoroughly fucked.”

Favs shakes his head. “No, I’m not gonna let that happen.”

“How the hell are you gonna manage that?”

One of the stormtroopers throws a grenade that lands right at Favs’ feet and from somewhere deep within, instinct takes over and he throws it back. He grabs Key’s arm and helps him scramble to his feet just as the bomb goes off behind them.

“Kriffing hell, how did you manage that?” Key looks back a moment, mouth still hanging open. He shakes his head. “Are you some kind of –”

“Let’s just focus on running and ask questions later,” Favs yells back. It’s just as well, too, as Key’s body starts to give out and his knees buckle. Favs slips his arm around him and they turn the corner, right into a partially-ruined hallway with an old-school Naboo cruiser parked in the middle.

Maz runs over, pulling Key out of Favs’ arms just as the ramp pulls up.

“You made it,” Lovett says, oddly quiet in the middle of all the loudness.

“We did,” Favs nods, throwing him a quick smile. He claps his hands together and runs to the controls. “All right, let’s get the hell out of here! L3O, get the hyperdrive ready!”

There’s a loud blast from somewhere outside, and L3O responds with a bunch of urgent beeps.

“What’s going on?” Lovett asks as he slips into the copilot seat. “Why aren’t we leaving?”

Favs grits his teeth and frantically hits a bunch of buttons. “They’re shooting at our hyperdrive from outside. At this rate, we’re not gonna make it.”

“Can’t we shoot back?”

“This is a cruiser, remember? It doesn’t have any guns.”

“Open the ramp,” Maz says.

Lovett and Favs turn their chairs around simultaneously, blinking. “What?”

Maz leans down toward Key and picks up his blaster. “Open the ramp,” he says again.

Favs turns to Lovett, who looks just as resigned as he feels, before complying.

There are a lot of things Favs expected the (former?) Queen of Naboo to be – a sort of nerdy general type was definitely one of those things. What was not was a dead-eyed merciless shooter with a rapid-fire trigger finger shooting down stormtroopers by the dozen.

“Why the fuck didn’t you give him a blaster earlier?” Lovett hisses at Key.

“Because I had no idea he could do that,” Key replies. Judging by his expression, he’s being honest.

“I’ve got some secrets,” Maz shouts over the blaster fire. “Are we good to go, Favreau?”

“We’re good. Pulling up the ramp right now.”

Lovett’s still gaping when Maz returns, face sweaty and hair disheveled, but still the same meek expression. “Wow,” he settles on. “That was just… wow.”

Key scoffs from where he’s seated on the floor. “You’ve got your own, Lovett. This one is mine.”

-

-

-

“Well,” Lovett says, finally, once their passengers have retreated to the only quarters available on the cruiser. “That was… something.”

“Yeah,” Favs sighs. “Yeah, it – it really was.”

“Are you missions this…” Lovett gestures his hand a bit. “Insane?”

“Honestly? I think the X-Wing missions are easier to handle than whatever we just went through.”

Lovett lets out a short laugh, shaking his head a little before letting out a long breath. He clears his throat. “That was, um, very brave of you. To go after Key like that. Dumb, certainly, but, uh. Also brave.”

“Thank you,” Favs says quietly.

“I’ve, uh,” Lovett clears his throat again. “I’ve lost a lot of people on Naboo and I’m… I’m glad I didn’t lose you too.”

A couple of beats go by and Favs finds himself having to clear his throat too. “I was gonna ask you this earlier, before we were, uh, rudely interrupted, but do you want to…” He takes a deep breath and tries again. “Do you want to grab dinner sometime? On the base? Just the two of us?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees Lovett smile. “Yeah,” he replies. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.’

Without looking, Favs extends a hand toward him and he feels Lovett’s hand slip into his.


End file.
